2.1.3 Emerging Trends: Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants

In order to effectively stop trafficking in persons and smugglers, there is a need to be aware of the ways criminal networks have evolved. There are six key trends that are changing the face of trafficking and smuggling in Thailand:

Visa exception structures for ASEAN nationals have made it easier for people to travel between ASEAN member states, but have at the same time expanded opportunities for traffickers and smugglers. Fewer restrictions at the borders means new opportunities for traffickers and smugglers to use legitimate documents in order to transport people for illegal purposes.

Fake passports, fraudulent biodata pages and counterfeited visas are common and very advanced. For people living in more remote areas, it is easier and often cheaper to turn to a local counterfeiter, who claims to be able to provide real identity documents, than it is to report to an administrative centre for the appropriate paperwork in order to legally migrate to Thailand. Traffickers also falsify biodata pages in order to conceal the real age of trafficked victims when they are younger than eighteen years of age, which allows them to cross the border without parental consent.

The means of transportation used during the trafficked process now includes airplanes, vans and trains. In the past, victims were trafficked mainly by land or sea across natural borders. Now, traffickers have added airplanes, trains and minivans to their modes of transport. Interviewees reported that victims are often trafficked in groups of 10 to 20 people in one van. Traffickers have continued to demonstrate great creativity in finding new ways to avoid detection. Interviewees spoke of an instance in which an airline officer transported victims from the international terminal to the domestic terminal in order to avoid passport and visa inspections.

ome interviewees observed an increase in violent crime associated with human traffickers. In some instances, the efforts of smugglers who tried to traffic victims across the Thai-Malaysian border were thwarted through the use of new law enforcement processes. When smugglers were faced with the prospect of losing the payment they expected from Malaysian recruiters upon delivery of the migrant workers, they rapidly turned the smuggling process into a trafficking situation by coercing victims to work until a request for ransom sent to the relatives of the migrants had been met. Some rescued victims reported that traffickers repeatedly used physical violence amounting to torture on their victims in order to threaten families to pay. In addition, forced surrogacy, which first surfaced in Viet Nam around 2010, has now expanded into Thailand. DSI investigation no. 54 in 2011 found that in Bangkok, 15 Vietnamese women were forced into surrogacy by Taiwanese agents who had previously lured these victims to work in Thailand.129

Entering Thailand has been simplified, leading to more legal and irregular migration. Thailand offers visa exemptions to nationals of 57 countries and territories and gives a visa on arrival to nationals of a further 19 countries.

129 Department of Special Investigation of Thailand. (2011). DSI Annual Report 2011. Bangkok, 130.

Prosecution of cases of trafficking in persons has increased as Thai efforts to combat trafficking have intensified. There has been an increase in the number of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions. The total budget allocated by the Thai government to combating trafficking in persons and protecting victims has increased since 2015. Although the data indicates a greater number of prosecutions, that data point alone does not confirm an actual worsening of trafficking in persons trends in Thailand.

Several interviewees stressed the importance of targeting small communities, because most victims of trafficking in persons come from rural areas and remote towns. This recommendation is supported by several studies on victim profiling in trafficking in persons. For example, UNICEF recommended prioritizing persons who are often overlooked, such as refugees, and displaced and stateless children, as they are especially vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.130

Public awareness campaigns are also crucial in the movement to stop trafficking in persons. Within the framework of the ‘5 Ps’ (policy, prosecution, protection, prevention and partnership) antitrafficking in persons strategy, the Thai government has been promoting public awareness campaigns through radio, social media, television, billboards and various leaflets.131 In several border areas, the local police and immigration authorities have started their own awareness-raising initiatives, including distributing brochures, displaying information posters in police stations and engaging in a dialogue with members of the communities. These campaigns warn people about the risk of becoming a victim of trafficking in persons, highlight legal migration channels and procedures, and inform tourists of the severe criminal punishment for child sexual exploitation.

In general, additional resources according to need should be made available to policymakers and practitioners who are confronted with an increase in TOC. The Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime is currently working on a handbook series which will provide guidelines on how to organize public awareness campaigns and identify the right targets. The development of this tool involves countries’ communication authorities and civil society organizations with expertise in communication campaigns. With respect to undocumented migration into Thailand, land borders are the biggest challenge for immigration authorities, since in some areas one can simply walk across the porous borders. Thus, border officers need to work together more closely to effectively enforce laws and regulations across the borders. To solve this problem, the Immigration Department, NGOs and the private sector have increased their efforts to promote regular migration. For instance, groups now travel to Myanmar villages to inform people about how they can migrate to Thailand legally. The literature also recommended that the Thai government make migrants aware of appropriate migration practices;132 however, others have argued that pre-departure orientation seminars may not give enough information, leaving migrants vulnerable.133

130 International efforts to curb money-laundering and the financing of terrorism have been made since the 1980s. The 1988 United Nations Convention against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is the first international legal instrument which criminalises money-laundering. The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime of 2000 and the UN Convention against Corruption of 2003 widen the scope of the money-laundering offence by stating that it should apply not only to the proceeds of illicit drug trafficking but should also to the proceeds of all serious crimes. The International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism of 2002 also requires Member States to take measures to protect their financial systems from being misused by persons planning or engaged in terrorist activities. 131 AMLO Thailand. (2018). Annual Report. Retrieved from http://www.amlo.go.th/index.php/th/strategy/annual-report/detail/9763 132 DSI. (2018). 2018 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.dsi.go.th/Upload/d4c2505041f7bd19f3e29c67ec49c4ed.pdf 133 Phongpaichit, P. (1999). Thailand’s Illegal Economy and Public Policy. Seminar paper presented at the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto, Japan, 5.